


Maybe It's Not So Bad After All

by blaaajung



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Canon, Alternate Reality, Alternate Universe, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Fluff, I Don't Even Know, M/M, Narry fluff, Santa's Workshop, Snow, Winter, just picture that omg, niall is santa's helper, santa, santa doesn't even appear, santa's village, so niall in tights, way overdue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-28
Updated: 2013-12-28
Packaged: 2018-01-06 10:42:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1105839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blaaajung/pseuds/blaaajung
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry has to take Lux on a babysitting trip to Santa's Village. He goes there unhappy and comes back with an angel. Cue Niall as Santa's Helper</p>
            </blockquote>





	Maybe It's Not So Bad After All

**Author's Note:**

> Ooops. Here is my Narry Christmas thing. I swear Ziall is my OTP but Narry is all I ever write. This is long overdue. Sorry. Hope you guys like it. Please tell me what you think?

“Just this once, please?” Lou begged. “I have so many appointments due! You know how it is during Christmas, people wanting their hair done all the time for their dinners and get-togethers.”

 

Harry looked at the slight woman skeptically. They’d been neighbours for as long as Harry could remember, and usually Harry wouldn’t have any qualms with babysitting her four year-old daughter, Lux. But knowing Lou Teasdale, Harry could just sense that there was more to this babysitting than meets the eye.

 

He sighed heavily.

 

Lou straightened herself. “I’ll pay you.”

 

Harry perked a little. He was after all, a teenager, and which teenager would turn down money?

 

“And I’ll do your hair free of charge for your semi-formal.” The glint in Lou’s eye was almost enough to make Harry turn the offer down.

 

But as it appears, ‘ _almost_ _enough_ ’ isn’t quite enough.

 

“I’ll do it,” Harry found himself saying.

 

“Great!” An overly-triumphant grin erupted over Lou’s face, nearly breaking her doll-like features. “Lux had been really excited to go to Santa’s Village for the past month! You could take her there for me tomorrow!”

 

And that was the catch. Santa’s Village. God, everyone hated that place and somehow kids seemed to love it. Harry remembered how it would always smell terribly like a mix of candy and piss, and how the snow was always brown. The lines were neverending, and there was always an overflowing amount of children that streamed in. Santa’s Helpers were always bored looking teenagers with nothing better to do in the Christmas break and they had so much attitude, always saying the nastiest remarks to the little patrons. The fake reindeer weren’t even half-decent.  And the worst part was probably Santa himself. The huge man always reeked of beer and had terrible body odour.

 

Basically, Santa’s Village smelt bad, was crowded and messy and had a bad Santa.

 

It had been a while since he’d last went to Santa’s Village, but he doubted that things changed very much within the past couple of years.

 

“What? But it’s a Saturday tomorrow!” Harry whined. “The traffic’s gonna be such a pain! It takes an hour just to get there on a good day. Imagine how long the car ride’s gonna be?”

 

Lou eyed Harry decidedly before saying, “Well, you know how much Lux loves hanging out with you, and you know how she gets about Christmas. Lux loves car rides.”

 

And yeah, Harry did know how much Lux loved spending time with him, and it was a little hard to ignore how much she’s been waiting for Christmas to come. The child had been talking non-stop about reindeer and presents and snow since November. It’s only been her fourth Christmas, afterall.

 

And so here he is, driving his car on a lovely Saturday morning, with a bubbly four year-old strapped to the backseat of his car. They were on their way to Santa’s village and singing along to Christmas music on the radio, and Harry swears he’d never seen Lux any happier. The sound of honking cars and angry drivers cursing occasionally cut through Lux’s adorable singing, but it only spurred the little girl on to sing louder.

 

It was common knowledge that traffic on the weekends would always be terrible. But traffic on the highway during the winter break and on the weekend was an absolute nightmare. The highway was gleaming with a serpent trail of cars ahead of Harry. Vehicles with snow-covered tops and salt-stains snaked their way around the bend of the highway at an increasingly slow pace. It was going to be a long ride to Santa’s Village.

 

It was after and hour of driving and six renditions of _Jingle Bells_ that Harry finally pulled into a lot in the overpacked parking lot at Santa’s Village, swerving past a horde of children crossing the road.

 

“Harry!! Hurry!!” Lux squealed excitedly as she jumped around in her seat, seatbelt already off. “Let’s go! Let’s go!”

 

“Steady there, princess!” Harry chuckled as he opened the door and gathered the ecstatic girl in his arms. Closing the door shut, he cautiously set Lux down on the snowy ground and held her hand tightly as they made their way to the main entrance of Santa’s Village.

 

“I can’t wait to see Santa!” Lux gushed, kicking her legs about, a wide smile nearly breaking her little face.

 

“Hold on, we gotta get the tickets first, alright?” Harry explained calmly as he headed towards the ticket booth.

 

“They have so many decorations in the trees, Harry!!” Lux observed, pointing out the diverse trinkets found on the evergreens.

 

“I know,” Harry replied. “Aren’t they lovely?” And he had to admit, they were much better than the previous tacky decorations from his memory. Maybe Santa’s Village has changed for the better after all.

 

There was already about twenty or so people in front of Harry in the queue. He groaned a little, already exhausted from waiting just by looking at how long the queue was. Why did he have to come to Santa’s Village today of all days?

 

“Harry! Harry! Look!! An elf!!!” Lux tugged at Harry’s hand, pointing excitedly at a male dressed in green from head to toe in the typical elf get-up, a tuft of blond hair sticking out of his pretentiously pointed elf hat. “Can I go say hi? Please? He’s a Santa’s Helper! Maybe he knows Santa!!”

 

The boy, who looked just about Harry’s age, was standing near the ticket counter, just a couple feet away from where the two were in line. A bright smile was plastered onto his face as he handed out candycanes to children that swarmed around him.

 

“Harry I want a candy too,” Lux insisted. “Please may I go say hi?” Her eyes widened in a calculatedly adorable way and her bottom lip jutted out, quivering a little; and boy, Harry could never say no to that face.

 

“Yeah,” Harry breathed out. “Just, don’t go running off to other places okay? Don’t want you getting lost! Your mom would kill me.”

 

“I won’t! I promise!” And with that, she was off, sprinting on her little legs towards the blond elf, smiling and giggling. Harry made sure to keep an eye on Lux as he moved down the line, nearly walking straight into another person while at it.

 

As he drew closer to where Lux was giggling and pulling at the boy’s faux ears, he noticed for the first time that, wow, that Santa’s Helper is actually pretty cute.

 

“Hey kid, get a move on,” a gruff voice from behind him bellowed. “There are other people in line y’know.”

 

“Sorry, sorry,” Harry mumbled as he quickly filled up the gap between him and the person in front of him. He’d been staring at blondie for a while now, and honestly, he was getting a little jealous of how easily the other boy made Lux laugh and smile. And yet, at the same time, he couldn’t help be charmed by the blond’s dashing smile and bright blue eyes.

 

“You speak funny,” he heard Lux giggle as he neared the two. It was only Lux standing around the Santa’s Helper now that all the candycanes have been given away.

 

“That’s cause I’m not from here,” the boy replied, his grin revealing a set of barely noticeable braces, a tinge of an Irish accent in his speech.

 

Lux was the first to notice Harry. Her smile widened (if that were possible) and she waved enthusiastically at him, her tiny arms nearly a blur.

 

“Is that your daddy? Maybe you should go back to him, yeah?”

 

“That’s not my daddy, silly elf,” Lux tittered. “He’s Harry!”

 

“I see,” the boy nodded sagely. “Well maybe you should go back to him. He’s nearly at the counter. I’m a little busy. Santa has many jobs for me to do.”

 

“Oooh! What do you do for Santa?” Lux asked curiously.

 

“You’ll find out once you get in,” the Santa’s Helper winked playfully before trotting off to do his ‘Santa duties’. Harry secretly wished that they’ll get to see this helper later on.

 

Seeing as there was no further point in being where she currently was, Lux ran to Harry, grinning and describing in full-detail what the Santa’s Helper was like.

 

“He’s so cool, Harry! Can I be a Santa’s Helper too?” the girl asked innocently.

 

Harry merely smiled in reply, wishing that he could once more be a child. They had finally reached the counter, and Harry pulled his wallet out as he purchased two tickets from the teller.

 

“Let’s go! Let’s go! I wanna see the reindeer!” Lux insisted immediately after they got their tickets checked at the entrance.

 

“Can you name all the reindeer?” Harry asked.

 

“Yes! Of course!” she answered confidently.

 

“Then name them for me?”

 

“You never said please.”

 

“Please?” Harry said.

 

“Alright. There’s Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen and Comet and Cupid and Blitzen. Oh! And Rudolph!”

 

“You’re missing another reindeer.”

 

“No.. I’ve got all of them!” Lux insisted.

 

“He’s right, y’know,” an Irish accent commented. “You are missing another reindeer. Y’don’t want the poor fella to feel left out d’ya?”

 

Harry was secretly really glad that the blond elf who was giving out candycanes by the ticket counter had came into their vicinity, even if he was only conversing with Lux.

 

Up close, the Santa’s helper was even more attractive, pale skin dotted with freckles and a nearly blinding smile, his blue eyes even sparklier than Harry last remembered. He had a slight frame, just the perfect size for an elf, Harry thinks. Not those elves in Lord of the Rings but like Santa’s elves kinda elves. And boy did his legs look good in those leggings (or are they tights??). There was no point in denying that Harry liked this blond kid, a lot.

 

“No,” Lux said meekly. “Which one am I missing?”

 

“Donner, of course!” the blond supplied.

 

“Oh. Right! I remember now! Thanks, Santa’s Helper!”

 

“Always here to help!” And for the first time, he addressed Harry, saying, “How are you enjoying your visit to Santa’s Village so far, Harry?”

 

The brunet flustered for a moment, taken aback that the cutie had talked to him and addressed him by his name. Fumbling with his words, he finally responded, “We literally just got in. It’s really crowded today.”

 

“The trees are so pretty!” Lux said. “I wish we could have more decorations like this at home!”

 

“Haha, we Santa’s Helpers spent lots of time working on those trees, we’re glad you like them.”

 

“Yeah I haven’t been here in a while and I have to admit that things seem to have improved for the better,” Harry said. “Especially with the staff.”

 

He nearly hit himself for saying that last bit. How could he have just said something so _cheesy_ and dorky? Now this totally cute guy will think he’s an absolute loser.

 

Which was why he was surprised when said cutie started blushing, his pale cheeks blooming quickly into a lovely shade of pink. The blush definitely wasn’t from the cold, the way the boy seemed taken aback by Harry’s comment, fumbling to find an appropriate reply, his hands starting to fiddle around with each other.

 

“I-if you would like,” he managed to say, “I could give you a tour of Santa’s Village. My name is Niall, by the way.”

 

Harry couldn’t help but notice how the blond - Niall, struggled with his words. And he couldn’t help but find it endearing. His accent too, was painfully endearing. It appeared that everything about Niall was cute.

 

“That would be nice,” Harry said, flashing what he hoped was his most charming smile. “Would you like that, Lux?”

 

“Yeah! Can you take us to Santa, please?” Lux asked politely.

 

“I could most definitely do that.”

 

And yeah, Harry was absolutely smitten with the way Niall was so patient and charming and how easy-going and yet caring he was. Oh, and not to forget, he loved that Lux adored Niall. The little girl had insisted that Niall pick her up so she could touch the bauble hanging on one of the trees despite Harry’s best efforts to convince her that she was a big girl now and shouldn’t be carried. (But really, Harry was just secretly jealous that she got to touch Niall.)

 

They did eventually get to see Santa after going through all the different places that Lux had pointed to. With Lux being the four year-old she was and constantly seeking Niall’s attention, Harry had no opportunity to acquaint himself with the other boy. It was slightly frustrating, but he had to constantly remind himself that he’s only here because of Lux (and Lou as well, but she doesn’t quite matter that much at this point).

 

It was past four when Lux had sleepily insisted that Harry carry her, and she quickly dozed off after she lay her head tiredly on his shoulder. That was the cue for the pair to start heading home. Harry did not look forward to the traffic back. It was going to be peak hour and there was sure to be tons of angry drivers around who were tired and frustrated from work.

 

But most of all, Harry did not look forward to leaving Niall. Niall with his lovely smile and his cute freckles and adorable accent. Niall with his bubbly personality and dazzling blue eyes and his wonderful bum clad in elf tights. Oh how Harry wished there was some way they could keep in touch. There was something between them, Harry swears by it.

 

The blond boy never fails to blush whenever Harry says something or makes a comment on something, and he blushes even harder when Harry attempts to make a pass at him.

 

“It was great meeting you, Niall,” Harry finally said as they neared the entrance to the parking lot. “We’ve had a wonderful time. See you.”

 

“Oh please, do stay,” Niall says suddenly, just as Harry started walking away. “It’s not nearly closing time yet!”

 

Harry turns around abruptly, careful not to drop the sleeping girl in his arms. His eyes were wide and he was genuinely shocked that Niall was so forward about this. The smaller boy looked back at him with pleading eyes.

 

“We never really got to speak to each other or anything,” Niall mumbled softly, lowering his head to stare at his feet nervously. “We could go to the café for a coffee or something..”

 

Harry was torn. He knew he really ought to be getting Lux home or else Lou might have his head, but he really did want to stay and have a coffee with Niall. He eyed Lux contemplatively, unsure of what to say.

 

“I-it’s alright if you don’t want to...I mean you have to get the princess home and all,” Niall chuckles forcefully, a tinge of disappointment in his voice.

 

And it’s then that Harry realises that Niall might like him too and was trying to ask him out.

 

“Oh no! I would really love to you know, have a coffee and get to know you and stuff. I swear. I really do,” Harry scrambles to say, his words coming so quickly his mind didn’t quite have the time to process what he was saying. This was his chance and he wasn’t going to just let it pass. “I..I really like you. Um, this is really awkward to say but can I have your number please?”

 

“You can most definitely have my number as long as I can have yours,” Niall replies, a smile broadening his face. Harry swears that Niall is an actual angel for the boy is practically glowing when he smiles.

 

“I’ll owe you a coffee,” Harry says as he enters his contact information into Niall’s phone with one hand, the other precautiously gripping onto a still sleeping Lux.

 

“Now I can make sure you’ll pay your debts,” Niall says cheekily, waving his phone at Harry when he got it back.

 

And then he leans up and kisses Harry on the cheek as he casually pockets Harry’s phone back into his jeans. A warm, fuzzy feeling creeps up on him, a feeling he often got when he submerges himself into a warm bath on a cold day.

 

“It’s an IOU,” Niall explains, his cheeks aflame. (Harry’s were no better.)

 

“I’ll be sure to pay back,” Harry fumbles out, his words slurring slightly, a silly grin plastered on his face.

 

And yeah, the grin didn’t leave him even as he drove home in the god-awful traffic and handed Lux back to Lou, still blissfully sleeping. He hadn’t said a word, just smiled a lot and nodded his head at things being said at him. All this while he was thinking that maybe, maybe going to Santa’s Village wouldn’t be so bad after all.

 


End file.
